Sophie, All About Ma Soeur

This one is for Pegs—my reader, and friend, who claims that I never write about my sister ... When I was a little girl, I idolized my older sister, Sophie. Actually, sometimes I still do. We had it rough when we were younger; and, if Sophie and I didn’t have each other, I don’t think that either of us would have survived our childhood. Ah, Sophie. My sister means the world to me. And, when I was younger, if you had asked me, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I would have told you: Sophie. I wanted to be her. And, all she ever wanted to be was, well, French. Sophie’s first and middle names are both quintessentially French. Truth be told, I think my sister and my mother—the woman who gave Sophie her name—honestly believed that my sister was a jeune fille parisienne in a former life. Throughout her schooling, Sophie would memorize every lesson on French history. (It wasn’t hard to do. There were only a couple of them. It’s America, remember?) And, when Sophie entered high school, she studied French language. Because I am 6 years younger than she is, I was only in elementary school at the time; nevertheless, I too studied French. I didn’t think that I was a little French girl but, dammit, if Sophie was—I wanted to speak her language. I’m not kidding. It seems that little girls who have female siblings tend to go through an “I Hate You” phase with their sister. That was never the case with Sophie and me. When I was 6, she was 12. And, when I was 12, she was 18. Not only could I not compete with her, I didn’t even want to. I just always thought that she was the Cooler Older Sister. Cool like Denise from The Cosby Show. And, you know what? Even Denise had a prénom français, too. So, that’s Sophie. My nephews’ mother. My brother-in-law’s wife. My friend. My lovely sister. My idol. Ma soeur. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - A French-to-English translation follows for those of you who hate: the French, the English-speakers that try to speak French, or both of the aforementioned: ma soeur = my sister; jeune fille parisienne = little Parisian girl; prénom français = French first name.